


Come Again Some Other Day

by strangepromises (juliet)



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Autumn, First Time, M/M, Rain, relaxed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-10-10
Updated: 2009-10-10
Packaged: 2017-10-03 01:20:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,101
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12659
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/juliet/pseuds/strangepromises
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Yesterday," John said, just in case Rodney was missing the point, "it was sunny."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Come Again Some Other Day

"Do I really need to be here?" Rodney asked. "I mean, I'm sure I can find you someone else who can handle this, it's really very routine, and I have more than enough to do back in the lab."

"That's not what you said yesterday," John pointed out. He locked the jumper doors and fired the engines up. "Atlantis, this is Jumper Two, about to head out to the mainland."

"Roger, Jumper Two."

Rodney huffed in the co-pilot's seat. "Yes, well," he started.

"Strange energy readings, you said," John pointed out as the ceiling of the jumper bay opened. "Definitely had to be you that went to look at it and not one of these, what was it? Useless morons, I think you said."

"Ah, yes, but..."

"Which is why we're here, McKay."

"But it's raining!" Rodney said almost forlornly as they soared out over the ocean and through what was, indeed, a fairly impressive start-of-autumn storm.

"Wasn't raining yesterday," John said.

"When you wanted to go, yes, I know," Rodney said, and sighed.

Yesterday had been glorious, one of those late-summer days bathed in sunshine with just a slight bite to the air, and John had spent it in his windowless office arguing with Lorne and Sergeant Radcliffe about supply manifests, so that he could take Rodney to the mainland today and search for energy readings. Not that he was remotely bitter. Despite the fact that Ronon and Teyla were off for the day with one of the trading team, visiting a planet that was still having summer. Nope. Not bitter at all. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Rodney wince slightly as a particularly impressive gust of rain blew across the jumper's windshield.

"Yesterday," John said, just in case Rodney was missing the point, "it was sunny."

"Okay, fine, Colonel, if it makes you feel better, I apologise," Rodney said, and sat back in the seat with his arms folded. "I assure you that I'm going to enjoy this even less than you are."

"Good," said John, and applied himself slightly more aggressively than was strictly necessary to the jumper controls.

*****

Happily it transpired that the worst of the rain was over the ocean, and by the time they'd reached the part of the mainland that they needed to investigate, it was barely more than a gentle drizzle. Which, of course, nevertheless meant that they were soaked through by the time they'd been wandering round in circles for half an hour as Rodney muttered and poked at his tablet and complained about rain down his neck.

Still, by the time they finally found the source of the energy signature, John was more or less enjoying himself. The rain felt good on his face; they were on the nice, safe, Lantean mainland rather than some brand new planet, which was a calming change; and even if he had missed the last decent day of the summer, at least the stores were in reasonable order now before the Daedalus arrived next week.

Eventually, after several recalibrations of his tablet and a lot of complaining about irritating non-directional signals, Rodney stumbled over -- literally -- the source of the energy readings, in the form of a slightly raised platform/box with some kind of gadget embedded in it. John shrugged his backpack off and sat on a nearby log -- "just keep your hands off it, gene boy, and by 'it' I mean absolutely everything" -- while Rodney poked and prodded and analysed, chirruping happily to himself despite the continuing rain. John leant back against a convenient tree and let himself drift a little. After a while the sun started to come faintly through as the clouds thinned a little, and he realised with faint surprise that he felt peaceful. Even cheerful. Despite the faintly damp feel of his socks. (God bless Athosian wool, anyway -- far warmer than US military issue.)

The clock that always ran at the back of his head told him how long it was -- 48 minutes -- before Rodney finished whatever it was he was doing and came to sit beside him on the log.

"Well, it's not a ZPM, and it doesn't seem to be a weapon, and I don't think I can get it out of there without risking it doing whatever it does do," Rodney said. He was sounding surprisingly upbeat for someone who, like John, was damp all the way to the skin and who didn't even have a shiny new toy to show for his morning. "Which we probably don't want to play around with, given our epic and glorious history with such things. So, back to the city and I'll take a look through the database and send someone else out here."

"One of the useless morons?" John asked lazily, looking sideways at Rodney.

"Yes, well, it's not quite as interesting as I thought it might be," Rodney admitted honestly.

He looked around them at the meadow, then up at the sky, patchily blue now but still stubbornly raining.

"You know, it's actually quite nice out here. It's a shame about the weather, really."

"Oh, the weather's not that bad," John said, just to watch Rodney snort and roll his eyes. "Here, McKay."

He dug in his backpack and pulled out a couple of the muffins he'd snagged from the commissary that morning before they set off. Rodney's face broke into a cheerful smile, blue eyes shining, and just at that moment the sun broke through again, shining off the rain-drops hanging from the ends of Rodney's hair. And somehow, before he could think better of it, John had leant forward, just for a moment, to touch his lips to Rodney's. They were rain-wet and slightly chapped, but just as warm as he'd always thought they must be. But god, this was clearly a disastrous, career-ending, friendship-ending idea, and even as his body reacted to the feel of Rodney's mouth against his, his brain was panicking, casting round desperately for some kind of explanation, expiation. Just as John started to pull back, opening his mouth in the hope that he could still talk his way out of this, Rodney made the 'huh' noise that usually signified a major scientific breakthrough, and was kissing him back. John could feel the rain between their faces, could feel Rodney's wet fingers tugging the hair at the back of his neck, and the faint warmth of sunshine on the side of his face that was far outmatched by the warmth of Rodney against him.

Maybe missing the last day of summer hadn't worked out so badly after all.


End file.
